diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 29835195f..28a7b68fb 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ AC_CHECK_LIB([bz2], [BZ2_bzWriteOpen], [true],
 AC_CHECK_HEADERS([bzlib.h], [true],
   [AC_MSG_ERROR([Nix requires libbz2, which is part of bzip2.  See https://web.archive.org/web/20180624184756/http://www.bzip.org/.])])
 # Checks for libarchive
-PKG_CHECK_MODULES([LIBARCHIVE], [libarchive >= 3.4.0], [CXXFLAGS="$LIBARCHIVE_CFLAGS $CXXFLAGS"])
+PKG_CHECK_MODULES([LIBARCHIVE], [libarchive >= 3.1.2], [CXXFLAGS="$LIBARCHIVE_CFLAGS $CXXFLAGS"])
 
 # Look for SQLite, a required dependency.
 PKG_CHECK_MODULES([SQLITE3], [sqlite3 >= 3.6.19], [CXXFLAGS="$SQLITE3_CFLAGS $CXXFLAGS"])
diff --git a/release.nix b/release.nix
index 5d742958c..65c94b17c 100644
--- a/release.nix
+++ b/release.nix
@@ -424,7 +424,7 @@ let
       postInstall = "make installcheck";
       configureFlags = "--sysconfdir=/etc";
       debRequires =
-        [ "curl" "libsqlite3-0" "libbz2-1.0" "bzip2" "xz-utils" "libssl1.0.0" "liblzma5" "libseccomp2" ]
+        [ "curl" "libsqlite3-0" "libbz2-1.0" "bzip2" "xz-utils" "libarchive" "libssl1.0.0" "liblzma5" "libseccomp2" ]
         ++ extraDebPackages;
       debMaintainer = "Eelco Dolstra <eelco.dolstra@logicblox.com>";
       doInstallCheck = true;